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Who should I vote for?

June 19, 2016

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I grew up in a Labor home where people like Gough Whitlam and Bob Hawke were our heroes. But when I met Sue in 1982 that proved to be a bit of a problem, as her dad was a die-hard Liberal supporter. And so, we had some interesting discussions for several years!

Well, as many of you know, I became a follower of Jesus in 1988 in my thirtieth year of life, and that completely changed everything for me, even including how I viewed politics. I no longer voted for a party simply because that was how I was brought up. And so I tried to vote for the person or party who would, in my opinion, best uphold Christian values (Cf. 1 Timothy 2:2).

And this brings me to today, and the reason for writing this Minute from a Minister. The reason I am writing about this is because, for this coming Federal Election, I have been asked by many people here at TGS as to who should they vote for? People have said to me things like: In the past I voted Liberal, but our current sitting member is the very one pushing his conservative party for same-sex marriage, or, In the past I voted for Labor but they’ve now promised to bring in same-sex-marriage if they’re elected. Yes, many of us, it seems, aren’t sure what to do this time around.

Well, four things that might help us: First, be sensitive when talking about such things. Some people will no doubt think very differently to you politically, and some of us do have family members in same-sex relationships. Second, when it comes to who to vote for, you need to prayerfully consider what particular policy, or policies, are so important that a person’s or party’s take on them will determine who you vote for. For many of us, from what you’ve said to me, the crunch issue is one’s stance on ‘marriage’. But for others it might be something else, such as ‘freedom of speech’. Third, you need to take a little time to check our candidates out. And it’s pretty easy these days if you know how to google. I just googled the nine candidates for our electorate of Leichhardt (yep we have nine!). And for example, for the policy of marriage, I can only find three candidates who very clearly say they are only for marriage between a man and a woman: Independent, Daniel McCarthy; Family First, Ned-Kelly Gebadi and Rise Up Australia, John Kelly. Fourth, we must trust in God’s sovereignty over all things: the building of his worldwide church on the solid rock of his Son Jesus will prevail. And if, as Jesus says: the gates of Hades will not overcome it (Matthew 16:18), no elected government will be able to stifle, stop or silence his church.